Rent-a-Wolf: Filmmakers Fake Wildlife ‘Documentaries’

Palmer, who describes himself as an adventurer who has swam with whales and sharks, gotten up close and personal with Kodiak bears, camped among the wolves, and trudged through an Everglades swamp.

But in his new book, Palmer, whose work has appeared on IMAX screens and on primetime television, points a finger at himself and other nature documentary filmmakers, shedding light on what he sees as a pervasive practice of faking nature.

“Wildlife films, too many of them, involve deceptions, manipulations, misrepresentations, fraudulence, and the audience doesn’t know,” said Palmer, 63, in an interview with “Nightline’s” John Donvan.